Social Media and the Part-Time Entrepreneur

If you are a part-time entrepreneur AND a full-time employee, it’s hard to just drop your day job and focus only on your business because of several reasons. This means every minute of your time is precious and you don’t have as much time for your business as maybe others who are full time entrepreneurs. There are a few things you shouldn’t put aside when it comes to your business and one of them is social media. Here are my 5 social media tips for the part-time entrepreneur.

1. Get Your Business Out There
No matter how much you believe it helps your business or not, you need to be out there on at least some of the social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (definitely if you have a product), YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Why? Because customers are there and they expect you to be there as well. So set up a professional Facebook page or hire a freelancer to do it for you, create a Twitter account and make sure your business’ website has all of your social media links and is social media friendly. If you don’t have time for all this, there’s always a good freelancer or virtual assistant out there that might lend a helping hand.

2. Let others Promote You
These days, the easiest and most effective advertising for the Part-Time Entrepreneur is a great Social media presence. Besides getting the likes or tweets you want, more importantly, the part-time entrepreneur benefits greatly from referrals! Social media allows you to make it easy for people to refer business to you and thus your connections end up promoting you. Think about social media as modern day “word of mouth”!

3. Be Present
Nowadays, with all of the smartphones, tablets and Wi-Fi everywhere, it is not that hard to post, update or tweet something real quick while you’re on your lunch break. Make sure you keep your social media profiles updated and responsive so the potential customers know you’ve got it covered and you are present for them.

4. Use Apps
You don’t always have access to a desktop computer or laptop nearby, especially when you’re working your full-time job. However, what you always have with you is your smartphone, so take advantage of it and of the dozens of great apps that ease your social media work AND help you manage your time. Click here for scheduling app options. Also, consider the Google Voice app that allows you to set up another phone number (i.e. business line) using your current smartphone…oh and it is free! You can use this for phone calls, voicemail, and text messages and it is safer to give out this alternate number on Social Media rather than your personal number.

5. Hire a Virtual Assistant
All of this may still feel overwhelming so if you still don’t think you have time to do all the steps above, then you need to outsource this function of your business and hire a freelance social media coordinator or virtual assistant to do the job for you. There are many places where you can find great social media professionals & virtual assistants at affordable costs, just post a note on Facebook that you are looking for a VA and I promise you will receive many recommendations!